Sever

After a moment of contemplation, Bai Ina took advantage of the crowd's cover to sneak behind Sa Kaiyang and jabbed the tip of his sword directly into the man's backside!

"Awoo--"

Accompanied by a miserable shriek, Sa Kaiyang immediately leaped into the air.

This piercing, shrill scream startled everyone present. The Pirate Empress furrowed her brows and looked toward Sa Kaiyang's back, locking her gaze onto Bai Ina in almost an instant.

"Damn it, kid, why did you poke my ass!" Sa Kaiyang turned around and began to curse.

However, Bai Ina ignored him entirely, his body tensed as he stared at the Pirate Empress, cursing inwardly. He knew that after stabbing Sa Kaiyang, he had immediately retreated behind the crowd; logically, from the Empress's angle, there was no way she could have spotted him.

Yet, in a mere heartbeat, Bai Ina felt himself locked onto by an incredibly oppressive gaze. An invisible wave of Conqueror's Haki crushed down upon him, making even the act of taking a step feel agonizingly difficult.

"Even a little brat cannot escape the charm of this one, for this one is the most beautiful!" The Pirate Empress brushed her long hair aside, revealing collarbones that looked like a work of art.

"Empress-sama!"

Seeing this, not only those on the warship but even the crew of the Kuja Pirates began to shriek in adoration.

Even Bai Ina felt his mind drift into a trance. This had nothing to do with love, nor the Empress's beauty, but rather the terrifying charm generated by her Devil Fruit ability. It was something only someone like Luffy, who lacked the capacity for such emotions, could possibly resist.

However, Bai Ina was an exception. Due to the aftereffects of his own Devil Fruit, he was destined to fall madly in love with any woman he had slept with. That obsessive, frantic love allowed him to snap back to his senses after only a momentary lapse.

"Mero Mero Mellow!"

At that moment, the Empress formed a heart shape with her hands, and a pink ray of light swept directly across the entire warship, washing over everyone, including Bai Ina.

Everyone touched by the pink light froze instantly, turning into stone statues in the blink of an eye.

"Arrange for people to move the supplies from the warship to our ship, then destroy that vessel. There are plenty of Sea Kings in the Calm Belt anyway." After doing this, the Empress didn't even glance down, turning directly to speak to Marigold beside her.

"..."

But Marigold did not answer; she was staring straight at the warship, her expression completely dazed.

"What is it?"

Seeing this, the Pirate Empress frowned and followed Marigold's gaze, only to discover that among the group of stone statues, a white-haired kid was staring at her with a gloomy expression.

"Was your attention diverted?"

Seeing that Bai Ina had not been petrified, the Empress's first reaction was that he must have been distracted by something else, which brought a flash of annoyance to her pretty face: "To think you would look at other things while in the presence of this one's beauty."

"Mero Mero Mellow!"

At that very instant, Bai Ina moved, charging straight through the pink ray as his Black Blade Dawn unsheathed in a flash.

"Iai Slash--Elegy of the Soul!"

A chilling, nether-like energy surged, instantly shrouding the entire area. The endless cold made it feel as if the region had been dragged into the Nine Underworlds. Behind Bai Ina, a blurry figure holding a giant sword suddenly manifested, as if Bai Ina himself had grown several times larger in that moment.

As Bai Ina swung his blade, the giant sword held by the blurry figure behind him also slashed toward the Empress's neck.

He had poured his full strength into this strike. Bai Ina knew well that if he did not take advantage of the Empress's momentary shock at her ability failing, he would have no hope of victory.

As for negotiating with the Empress as a Marine, that was something Bai Ina had never considered. Anyone who knew the original story understood that while the Empress appeared beautiful, she possessed the heart of a scorpion.

Arrogant, willful, and deeply contemptuous of others, she would kick aside small animals that stood in her path. In the original story, she had thrown the former Empress of Amazon Lily out a window and personally destroyed statues the children had made for her. She had even petrified the Marines who arrived because she didn't want to participate in the Summit War but didn't want to lose her position as a Warlord of the Sea.

Therefore, one should never try to reason with this scorpion-hearted woman unless she had fallen in love with you.

Returning to the present, though it seemed like a long time had passed, it had only been a split second. Bai Ina had already rushed before the Empress, his Black Blade Dawn slashing directly at her neck. He was so fast that even the Boa sisters beside the Empress hadn't reacted.

'Clang--'

However, just as the blade in Bai Ina's hand was about to touch the Empress's neck, a slender, jade-like finger appeared as if by teleportation directly in the path of his strike.

With just one finger, acting like a pillar supporting the heavens, it didn't even tremble upon contact with Black Blade Dawn. Furthermore, a terrifying force erupted from that slender finger, shattering the phantom of nether energy behind Bai Ina and rendering his horrific strike completely devoid of impact.

Bai Ina's expression changed instantly, filled with extreme shock. Although he knew there was a massive gap between him and the Empress, the scene before him still left him deeply shaken.

But in the next second, his eyes sharpened, and he released his grip on the Black Blade in his right hand.

"May Rain--Ghost Slash!"

The moment he released the blade, Bai Ina leaned forward, his left hand catching the Black Blade to continue the strike toward the Empress's neck.

"Perfume Femur!"

Accompanied by a delicate shout, the Empress used an incredibly flexible angle to deliver a side kick, her long, slender leg carrying a terrifying gust of wind as it landed on Bai Ina's left arm.

'Bang--'

That kick, imbued with Armament Haki, carried a force several times more powerful than the strike from the giant beast earlier. It sent Bai Ina's body flying backward instantly, a mouthful of blood spraying out as he was launched like a cannonball into the deck of the Kuja Pirates' ship.

'Boom--'

With a loud explosion, the deck where Bai Ina landed shattered completely, sending wood splinters flying everywhere.

"Ugh..."

Bai Ina vomited blood, his bones shattered in that instant, and agonizing pain flooded his entire body. He struggled with a grimace, but his injuries made it difficult to even move a finger, and his left arm had already been completely petrified.

'Tap--'

With the crisp sound of a heel hitting the deck, the Empress jumped down from the head of the giant snake and walked slowly toward the collapsed Bai Ina.

All of this had happened in the blink of an eye, and only now did the rest of the Kuja Pirates react.

"How bold, to dare attack Lady Snake Princess!"

"Damned man, how could he... how could he dare to attack Lady Snake Princess!"

"Sister, are you alright!"

"Tear this man into a thousand pieces!!!"

"..."

The deck of the Kuja Pirates ship erupted into a cacophony of noise, but as the Empress waved her hand, the sounds instantly died down.

"Why were you not turned to stone!" The Empress walked straight to where Bai Ina lay, looking down at him from above. For the first time, a look of fury appeared on her face, her beautiful features filled with killing intent: "To ignore my beauty, and even go so far as to strike at me."

"How can this be? How could anyone not bow down before me?" Saying this, the Empress grabbed Bai Ina by the hair and hoisted him up, staring at him with icy eyes: "I cannot accept the existence of a man like you."

"Pah—"

However, at that very moment, Bai Ina performed an act that left everyone stunned; he spat a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva directly onto the Empress's exquisitely perfect face.

Watching the Empress, who had momentarily frozen in shock, Bai Ina curled his lips into a crazed arc: "Bi... bi... tch!"

"..."

The entire Kuja Pirates crew, the Empress included, was stunned. Everyone stared blankly at the bloody saliva sliding down the Empress's forehead, and the deck fell into an absolute, deathly silence.

"Hum—"

A long, long time passed...

An invisible force surged into the sky like a violent gale, scattering the clouds above. More than half of the people on the Kuja Pirates ship rolled their eyes back and slowly collapsed to the deck...

The sound of bodies hitting the floor—thud, thud—was incessant, but the Empress paid them no mind. She stared at Bai Ina with unbridled killing intent, her hand moving in a blur as she yanked his hair and slammed him heavily onto the deck.

Crack—

The sudden impact caused Bai Ina's petrified left arm to shatter at the root, turning into piles of rubble that scattered across the floor...